It was great to get back to Texas. It was the first time my wife and I have been there since her army days, 25 years ago. We flew into San Antonio Friday afternoon, rented a car, and headed up to Marble Falls. Went to the Hotel first to get checked in, MaxGravy happened to just gotten back there, so we met up with him for the first time. Great to finally meet him in person, we have done FaceTime chats before, but nothing like an in person handshake with your business partner. Awesome to finally get to meet his better half Splunky as well.

After the meet and greet with them, we head out to Hidden Falls adventure park. First, we need to stop at Walmart for some coats because it is COLD in Texas! Who'd of thunk it? Found some nice Texas Longhorn jackets on clearence for 7 bucks, grabbed some beer and off we go. We get to Hidden Falls Adventure Park, and we get to meet Blue Angel, Stouttrout, and Midnight Crawler. Very nice to meet those guys. Got to check out some of the orginials of Blue Angels artwork, that was very impressive!

A little bit later, we head out for a few hours of wheeling. MaxGravy and I jumped in Stouttrouts Jeep, and the wives jumped in with Blue Angel. Very fun time! After a little while (and no tutorial ), Stouttrout handed over the wheel to me. I managed to keep the jeep on all 4 wheels! I drove for quite a while. I tried to get MaxGravy to drive, but he was way too chicken. We ended the evening up on top of the highest hill in the area to watch the sunset.

Headed back to the campsite where most everyone is staying (except us hotel campers), and Midnight Crawler was cooking burgers and kielbasi on the grill. Had dinner and a few beers, and headed back to the hotel. After getting up at 3am and traveling for 12 hrs, we were quite tired.

Got up Saturday morning, had breakfast at the hotel with MaxGravy and Splunky. Headed over to Hidden Falls and got ready for the soldiers to arrive. Very touching moment when they were unloading from the bus. Splunky went into pretty good detail about it in her post a few post up. We had lunch, then loaded up into Jeeps to head out for the day. I was in one of Stouttrouts Jeeps with his wife and my wife. His wife said she liked to ride more than drive, so i ended up driving all day, which was fine with me. Drove up, down, over, and inbetween some crazy stuff. Kept the jeep upright all day, so that was a plus . MaxGravy and Splunky went with Blue Angel and had a soldier in their jeep. It took Blue Angel several hours of badgering, but he finally got MaxGravy to drive for a brief period of time . I though Splunky was going to jump in my Jeep during that time! After about 5 hrs on the trails, we headed back to have dinner with the soldiers and their families. After dinner, they had the awards presentation, and drawings. Midnight Crawler presented MaxGravy and I with some very awesome plaques for our support of the organisation. I will get a picture added tomorrow. Randy made a brief speech (i'm not a public speaker ) about BullionStacker and it's members. Then it was time to hand out the BullionStacker bars that you guys so generously donated silver for. Unfortunately, some bars went unclaimed. Not sure if some of the soldiers weren't present during the annoucement or what. After that, we hung out and chatted with a few soldiers and thier families.

Sunday morning, we headed back to San Antonio for the day. Spent the day at the Riverwalk and The Alamo. Very nice area around there.

We had a great weekend, and cannot wait to go back next year. I hope some more of you guys will be able to make it out to the event, i'd love to meet more of you.

Getting to meet everyone was one of the greatest parts of this event. You guys are awesome. It felt like I had known you forever. I am so glad you had a good time. Next year maybe we can spend more time with each other. If there is still Ammo around, we will need to do a day of shooting.

I would like to share my experience. Seems like every year there is one person at the event that touches many lives. This year it my pleasure to ride with her. Her name was Pam. She was not a Warrior, she was not injured, but she did come on the bus from Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC).

You have heard how Saturday began, but let me explain some of the back scenes stuff. We organized a special group of a a few Jeeps to take Jim Hatfield, our Sponsor from Northwest Dodge Jeep in Houston, Jeremy Komorn, our sponsor from 4wheelparts, and Billion Stacker out. We had empty seats and begin pulling from the rear of the line. I left about 2 or 3 seats empty in case we had a problem and needed to do move some over. On the way out, I saw a name tag on a lady that acted like she was going to jump in my jeep. The soldiers and families have different tags so I new she came on a bus. I stopped and asked if she wanted to ride with me in my empty seat. She said, "Really, sure! but I have two jeeps with me, can they follow? I said, "Absolutely" One of the Jeep had a 2 month old. So we headed out.

I asked her if she was military, thinking she was probably one of the nurses. It turned out, she was a mother and now a caregiver. She had identical twin sons and one was at BAMC. He was hit by a roadside IED and has lost both legs and will likely lose his arm. As she continued her story, she told me how hard he had worked to make it to the event. He has been in the hospital for 7 months and was supposed to be dismissed Wednesday before the event. Pam, his mother, had flown in to go with him to the event. After finding out he would not be released, they were extremely disappointed. The son told his mother, "YOU GO! Please." She reluctantly left. The cool thing is, her other son, the twin is serving at Fort Hood. He had hoped to see his mother and bother and showed up with two friends in Jeeps, the two that followed us. Both f her son's love Jeeps and both have plans to buy one. Hopefully one will be driving next year.

So far a great story, right, but it does not end there. Remember Jim Hatfield? Well Jim had one of our fine warriors with him. A young man we call Col. Dan. He was hit with a Roadside IED and lost both legs. He also has a Jeep and Jim had it outfitted very nicely and had all the controls put in it for him to drive. I took Pam back and introduced her to Jim and Dan. To see another young man like her son driving a Jeep and continuing his life really made her day. The stars sometimes fall into the right slots when we need them too. Oh yeah, and she drove. She drove through some HARD stuff too. I have a video I will post when it is done uploading.

Now that was just my experience with this Mother, Pam. While on the trail we did not thing but talk and laugh. I told her about Shane. Shane came to our event with the typical attitude they arrive in, not really wanting to be there but doing it for his family. He was busted up, had two little girls and wife Hilary with him. This was in 2011. They had a blast. WFTW changed his outlook on life and in 2012 they returned to volunteer and help with operations. Now, this year, he bought a jeep, well, he bought his wife a Jeep, and they returned at drivers. I meant to introduce Pam to Shane but the opportunity never arose. The event ended and Pam left. I was a little disappointed that I had missed that chance but I know we will see her son next year as he will be at BAMC for probably another 2.5 years in rehab.

Yesterday, I get home and Hilary had tagged me in a post. This is what it said,

"While at the table handing out tickets for the event I ran into a woman. She was clearly in distress and confused. I asked her what was wrong and she looked at me in the eye with a look I persoannly know all to well and said " I'm here because my son is in the hospital, he has been at bamc for the last 7 months, he saw this flyer and was so excited, the hospital said they would release him and he pushed so hard but they said he still needed more time to recover and couldn't go. He was upset so I came for him". With tears. Streaming down my face I asked "are his wounds combat related? What happened? ". She told me he was hit by a roadside bomb and lost both his legs at the knee and they are still trying to save his arm. I am crying at this point and so is she and Ashley (my bff). I composed myself and told Pam here is all my husbands information. You call us when your son is ready and we will make a trip out here just for him. I know several people with jeeps and we will make this happen for him. At the end of the event she found me and hugged me. She told me someone had told her about Shane and his healing thru wheeling and we shared a moment. So guys as soon as that soldier contacts us get ready to wheel up. I love you all so much and thank you for bringing my husband out of that dark nasty hole he was in, we have been thru so much the last 2.5 years and I know there are times when I couldn't have done it with out that damn jeep."

So in the end, once again the stars were in our favor. Looks like we will be doing a special trip for this soldier. I know Hilary and Shane very well and I know Hillary will not let this one slip. Of course it may be awhile before we get him offroad, but we do plan to take him for a few eat outs in Jeeps and go visit him.

I wanted to share this with you guys because you guys made this happen. This is not the only story like this. Everyone out there had an experience like this. Drivers and riders both shared time together that will make a difference is their life.

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I want to say a special thank you to my beautiful wonderful loving wife Brenda. She pre-cooked about 30 special meals for me so I could stay healthy on our trip. She drove me all the way to Texas and back, over 3500 miles! She supported me 100% on this trip and even when she sprained her ankle (taking a p in the woods in Texas, lol) she never complained once.

We've been married over 22 years and she is the love of my life, my very best friend. I can't imagine life without her.